Summary Care Records (SCR)

Market Drayton Medical Practice are preparing to introduce Summary Care Records for its patients on the 11 April 2011.

Last year the Primary Care Trusts wrote to patients registered with GP Practices in Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin to inform them that the NHS in England is introducing a new electronic record called the Summary Care Record (SCR), which will be used to support your emergency care. The Summary Care Record is an electronic record which will give healthcare staff faster, easier access to essential information about your health, to help provide you with safe treatment when you need care in an emergency or when your GP practice is closed.

If you choose to have a Summary Care Record it will contain important information about any medicines you have been or are currently taking, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines that you had. Your permission will always be asked if anyone needs to look at information in your SCR, unless in an emergency when you are unable to give permission.

As part of the local programme Market Drayton Medical Practice is now preparing to introduce Summary Care Records for registered patients and this is planned to happen on the 11 April 2011.

If you choose to have a Summary Care Record you do not need to do anything and one will be made for you.

If you do not want a Summary Care Record you can get an opt out form from Market Drayton Medical Practice or from the link below; once completed, return it to the practice and your existing health record will continue to be used as it is now. You can change your mind at any time.

Starting the week beginning Monday 8th March 2010. All of our patients aged 15yrs and 6 months or older were sent an information pack through the post detailing the roll-out of the Summary Care Record (SCR) project throughout Shropshire. Please read the letter and information within your pack. It will explain the project, what it involves and how it affects you.

What is a Summary Care Record?

Your Summary Care Record (SCR) is an electronic medical record, that will be available to Clinicians providing you with care anywhere in England. For instance when you call an out of hours service or visit an Accident and Emergency Department. It will be based on some basic information in your GP Records

At first, your SCR will only contain important information about any allergies you have, your current prescriptions and whether you have had any bad reactions to medicines.

The NHS are gradually introducing SCRs across England, Shropshire is one of the first areas to benefit from this service.

Whatever you decide, you can change your mind at any time. If you decide not to have a SCR but then change your mind, we can still create one for you. If you decide after we have created your SCR that you do not want it, we will 'hide' your record to make sure that health-care staff who try to access it will not be able to see it.

We will only make your record available again if whoever wants to see it asks in writing and if an investigation has found it is necessary.

It is possible to apply to have your record deleted rather than hidden, but that will be difficult if the record has already been used to give you care.